Stark Realities
by Rish Tor
Summary: Maddie Fenton hated today because it was the birth of Danny Phantom and the half death of Danny Fenton who happened to be the one and the same but different at the same time. 1st DP fic attempt.


Maddie Fenton hated today.

Hated every little thing about it.

Hated how the sun shone, the birds chirped and the white fluffy clouds patrolled the sky.

She especially hated how the door to the Ghost Zone would swirl on dully, its vivid green swirls marking plainly where everything had changed.

But what she hated most of all was how her son, her wonderful and bright baby boy, would become quiet and reclusive for a full twenty four hours and there was nothing anyone could do to raise his spirits.

Maddie Fenton hated today because it was a stark reminder of how close they had come to loosing Danny those two years ago in that horrific lab accident.

It was her Reminder Day, where she remembered her family was only human and that her profession had the potential to be deadly.

They hunted bloody ghosts for crying out loud!

(She also hated today because it was the birth of Danny Phantom and the half death of Danny Fenton who happened to be the one and the same but different at the same time; but she didn't actually know the true significance of the day).

Whenever she tried to explain this to Jack, he would look at her as if she had gone mad and ask if she was running a fever. It simply couldn't compute with him that there were times their family was in danger and it was their fault. For him, living in oblivion was simple and easy and the better option (if he thought about it, it would rip him apart, which was something he could never explain to his wife. So he settled for pretending that he didn't see how his family shattered for a day and buried his fear in fudge and working in the lab).

So, the Reminder Day sent the Fenton family spinning in different directions, with Jazz circling in between the three, a flimsy rope tossed between them all.

(A rope with frays because Jazz knew things Danny wished she didn't know and kept it from their parents).

After spending the day puttering around the house, mindlessly cleaning and organizing because she couldn't stand being in the same room as the Ghost Zone doorway, Maddie made her way to the roof. Ducking and weaving around the tech that decorated the top of the Fenton household, she made her way deftly to the peak and sat.

The night sky gleamed above her, brilliant stars blazing through the black curtain.

Lying back, she let out an explosive sigh and closed her eyes, letting the tension seep out of her muscles and into the cool metal beneath her.

After taking several deep breaths, Maddie blinked her eyes open and froze.

Instinct had her hand reaching for a weapon she wasn't carrying at her waist (Reminder Day leaves her frazzled; she's pretty sure her ecto-gun on the kitchen table and the newspaper is clipped at her waist) but she stilled when the glowing figure above her shifted.

As she watched, it dawned on her that Phantom had yet to spot her. Instead, the monochromatic boy hovered several meters above the Fenton roof, glowing eyes staring at the sky. From her position below, she could see how the ghosts shoulders slumped, his posture defeated and Maddie found her heart going out the him.

Sucking in a breath when Phantom suddenly shot high in the sky, Maddie sat up and followed his progress with her eyes. For some reason, her heart thudded in her throat as she watched the ghost boy fly higher and higher until he was no more than a silver dot in the sky.

For a long moment, Phantom remained a spec above her, before he stopped hovering and fell. As he picked up speed, Maddie found herself growing more and more anxious. From her point of view it looked as though he wasn't going to stop and, while a distant part of her mind knew it wouldn't hurt the ghost, all she could see was a boy the same age as Danny (who appeared suspiciously like her son, but with snowy hair and neon eyes) falling from the air.

But what hit the hardest was when the ghost boy was close enough to see in detail and Maddie realized that, through closed eyes, he was crying. Tears streaked his young face as he shot towards the ground like a bullet.

Ghosts don't cry.

The sight of the anguish coating Phantom's face had Maddie shooting to her feet with a surprised gasp.

Phantom's eyes popped open when the sound registered and, upon seeing her, abruptly vanished.

Maddie found herself searching frantically for any sign of Phantom, illogically worried that he had hurt himself.

After several long moments of fruitless looking, Maddie gave up and decided she would go back inside. Maybe sit with Danny for a while, see if she could play cards with him or something (anything to lift his spirits today). The stars had lost their appeal today, after watching Phantom fall like one.

Her motherly instincts were going mad and something inside her was panicking.

But there was nothing she could do.

Just as she was about to step back inside through one of the upper windows, a small voice caught her attention.

"Why haven't you killed me yet?"

Maddie whirled, and stared at Phantom as he hovered at the edge of the roof. His neon eyes were downcast, expression somber. He refused to meet her gaze as he shifted listlessly in the air.

"What?" she asked, not sure if she had heard correctly.

"I asked, why haven't you killed me yet? We both know that's what you've been trying to do for years."

"You can't kill a ghost," Maddie responded instinctively, but something inside her twisted dangerously. It magnified tenfold at the bitter smirk that crossed Phantom's face.

"Right. You can just make them wish they were dead," Phantom shot back.

The confusions was swamped by the sudden guilt.

When she had no answer, Phantom sighed and twisted so he hovered upside down.

"Happy Deathday to me," he whispered and the small breezed carried the words to her. She flinched at the desolate tone.

Weighing the merits of the question she dearly wanted to ask, Maddie hesitated. Then she opened her mouth and spoke. "Can I ask what happened?"

(Not knowing the politics of a ghosts Deathday, she didn't realize that asking for their cause of death was one of the most personal questions she could ask. One only a ghost would answer if they trusted the asker implicitly. However, unversed in the politics of his own kind (or half thereof), Danny didn't understand the implications of the question.)

There was a long pause before an answer came, and as she waited, Phantom looked away from the ecto ball he'd been absently forming in his hands (much to Maddie's discomfort, but somehow, she recognized the move as a nervous habit) and flipped back right side up.

He stared at her to the point it became uncomfortable. Despite all the evidence that ghosts couldn't feel Maddie and Jack had collected over the years, she could see the warring emotions in Phantom's gaze.

Then he shrugged and murmured, "Lab accident two years ago. I was electrocuted."

Something in Maddie's mind clicked.

She felt the breath in her lungs escape as though someone had sucker punched her.

A myriad of emotions passed through her heart.

"Danny?" she breathed.

His mouth stretched into the semblance of a smile; it looked more like a grimace.

"Hi mom," he whispered. "You wanna know why I fell from the sky? I wanted to see if it would actually finish me off."

Then he vanished for the second time that night and Maddie was left with a shattered inside and alone on the roof.

* * *

_Having found Danny Phantom on Netflix the other day, I marathoned it._

_This was born after about two hours._

_Opinions would be amazing, as I don't know what I should do with this now._


End file.
